Betty Bacall as Sally Ross in The Fan

I LOVE the musical numbers. Delish.

And Maureen Stapleton is a hoot!

I was shocked when I heard the line "fuck you with a chainsaw" in regards to Lauren Bacall. Different time.

Why did Bacall do this shit? And why didn't anyone tell her she couldn't sing? She was a smart, savvy woman, she should have known it was crap.

The thing that sticks out with me is that nasty scene with the gay guy getting slashed

Its a fun film but I had read the book beforehand and it sort of ruined it for me.

Oddly, the book is a series of letters between various characters. Worth checking out either to film or the book or both.

Was Andy Williams unavailable?

R4, But the book and movie had different endings.

The movie got her a People cover.

I'm watching the movie now (dontcha love the internet). It's Called Tomorrow is the name of the musical that's ending it's run as the film opens.

The songs she sings later in another musical were written my Marvin Hamlisch and Tim Rice. Interesting combo.

I love the score's ominous opening chords and how the film starts of with a typewriter writing the gayest fan letter ever with Beihn's narration.

I actually bought a ticket for this! The funniest part was when Bacall was being chased backstage and she could barely do that. Years ago I met a young woman who’s mother was obsessed with Michael Biehn marrying her daughter. I think she only went as far as sending him pictures.

From the PEOPLE article June 1981: The biggest toad in her enchanted garden, however, is the hoopla over her new movie. ” The Fan is much more graphic and violent than when I read the script,” says Bacall of her role as an aging actress stalked by a murderously psychotic admirer. “The movie I wanted to make had more to do with what happens to the life of the woman—and less blood and gore.” Filming, based on author Bob Randall’s 1977 thriller, wrapped last summer, but the parallels to the December shooting of John Lennon have again enmeshed Bacall in that horror.

A resident of the Dakota apartment house where Lennon was shot, Bacall was particularly incensed that critic Rex Reed, who also lives in the building, publicly identified her as one of the many celebrity tenants. Now, she reports, “The ghouls are outside nonstop with their goddamn cameras. It’s hard to keep them away. It’s a heavy price to pay, I must say.” Even more appalling to her is the disclaimer tacked onto the previews for the film by Paramount Pictures that correctly—but suggestively—denies similarities between the film and Lennon’s death. “I think it’s disgusting, revolting and exploitative,” she says. “I hope they will stop using it. Obviously, whoever decided to do it thought it would help the movie. I think it will hurt it.”

If anything does help the uneven movie, it is Bacall’s electrifying performance. Among generally mixed reviews, the one that really counted was a valentine from the New York Times‘ Vincent Canby, who began, “The Fan…has several terrific things going for it, and they’re all named Lauren Bacall.” Betty, as she is known to friends, giggled like a schoolgirl. “I’ve never had such a good review for a film,” proclaims the gal who has completed 23 of them. “I’m thrilled. I think I’ll run away with Vincent Canby.”

R8, I like his voice over while showering, when he boasts that he has the equipment to make her happy.

I'm embarrassed to admit I saw this the day it opened in1981 at the matinee screening, with several Boston film critics sitting near me.

I witnessed them conversing afterwards, all of them were chuckling at what they'd just seen.

"A resident of the Dakota apartment house where Lennon was shot, Bacall was particularly incensed that critic Rex Reed, who also lives in the building, publicly identified her as one of the many celebrity tenants."

She revealed in her 1979 autobiography, "By Myself", that she lived at The Dakota.

Why are you embarrassed? It was 1981 and the film was controversial and starred LAUREN BACALL. Any self respecting gay would go see it.

I saw Mommie Dearest opening weekend with a packed house in Texas City, Texas!!!

Is this film streaming? Where??

I loved the camp miniseries where Bacall played old Doris Duke and Richard Chamberlain was her murderous butler

The best part of this film, aside from Maureen Stapleton who is the best part of any film lucky enough to have her, is that you get to see the inside of The Haymarket (Eighth Ave, between 47th and 48th) without risking your life by going into the goddamned thing. Back in the day, that was some rough trade that would be standing out in front, any hour of the day or night. Rounds was just for East Side sissies. The hustlers at The Haymarket were ominous.

The film follows the book structure a bit I guess cuz the movie opens with letters between Biehn and Stapelton the assistant being read with intermittent phone messages left by Bacall to her beau.

Fun so far.....

R13, Here's Rex Reed "outing" Bacall at 6:55.

And why didn't anyone tell her she couldn't sing?

Lauren won two Tonys for Best Actress in a Musical for Applause and Woman on the Year.

r20 that's right, and yet she still couldn't sing. And no one ever called her Lauren.

Woman of the Year. Lots of people who can't sing are in musicals.

R15

putlockers.sh/watch/kvY1E3vb-the-fan-1981.html

The novel is so much better. First, because it's an epistolary novel as mentioned above. Second, because it's much more somber with a much, much darker ending than the movie.

And I thought the line was "Have you ever been fucked by a meat cleaver?"

Biehn WAS hot as hell in that movie. I drooled over him.

Too bad he was nearly as batshit in real life as he was in the movie. Drugs and booze were not his friends, which is why he disappeared from the scene quickly.

It WAS meat cleaver!

I wonder where I got chain saw? lol

We have the feeling that we would have gotten along famously with Betty.

You are dead wrong, R28. She would have ripped your skin off. For sport.

[quote] And no one ever called her Lauren.

I am not r20, but Lauren Bacall is long dead, and no one is interested in currying favor with her ghost. If you would like to pretend you were her intimate friend, you may call her "Betty" all you like; but don't assume other people want to or have to play your creepy little game.

There's an audio cameo appearance by Liz Smith.

The book is really fun. Epistolary (like Les Liaisons) which is cool for revealing what different characters know and others don't, at the same time.

Film opening credits are a blast.

The movie is entertaining trash, but Biehn and Stapleton are both very good in it.

[quote]And why didn't anyone tell her she couldn't sing?

Because The Tony Award committee told she could TWICE.

TIM RICE wrote those lyrics about hearts and diamonds? My God.

Tim Rice has always been a shitty lyricist. He writes garbage.

I love the "A Remmarkable woman" song. I always figured it was the inspiration for "(I See) Me" from Death Becomes Her.

Sorry, typo: that should be "Remarkable"

FLAVAH!!!!!!

Actually, her closest friends called her Dorcas.

r2, she wasn't that smart. You're giving the widow Bogart too much credit.

I wish I could remember who it was- but there's a funny interview on YouTube with a friend of Ethel Merman's. He and Merman arrived late for a performance of Woman of the Year. As they were entering their row, Bacall screeched out her first lyric. Merman actually yelled "JESUS CHRIST!" and put her hands over her ears.

It's coming to Blu-Ray this November from Scream Factory who have been putting out some great releases in the past 5 or 6 years. I've been told they're restoring the "meat cleaver" line that was taken out of the DVD release for some reason.

R25 there's something every touching about Tony Charmoli and his assistant gay working out that Woman of the Year number. Can't put my finger on it, but it almost makes me cry. Maybe it's just that it's gay guys doing their gay thing in 1980 without judgement or anything. They're just working.

It's 1980. Just about the last moment before they would all be wiped out.

Looking forward to the Scream Factory Blu-ray r43. Apparently Scream Factory is issuing some other Paramount titles, so hopefully more of the Paramount vault will be opened for (DL fave) titles like Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Mommie Dearest, and Ordinary People.

It would be hilarious if Scream Factory reissued Ordinary People.

Haha r47. Paramount has been so strict with their titles so maybe Shout Factory will be able to release Ordinary People.

Scream should definitely issue Mommie Dearest!

R42, It was Lee Roy Reams.

[quote]Tim Rice has always been a shitty lyricist. He writes garbage.

And yet he is an EGOT with 3 Oscars, 4 Tony Awards, 5 Grammys, 3 Golden Globes and an Emmy and you don't. Huh.

Was/is Lee Roy Reams gay? (I don't know if he's still alive.)

Lee Roy Reams on Ethel, Bacall, and Jesus Christ:

It's a great story, although you can tell he has embroidered it over the years so it just gets longer and longer. And as people in the comments point out, the show didn't open in August as he says, but in March, and the Puerto Rican Day Parade is always in June.

What was Merman expecting, Leontyne Price?

A fist fight broke out between two drunk lesbians and a straight guy defending his precious wife during a performance of Woman of the Year. It was so raucous that Bacall heard the tumult from the stage and stopped the show.

Lee Roy and Bacall were good friends, stemming from his playing her hairdresser in Applause. She often gave him rides home in her limo during the Broadway run. I know he purchased at least one item from the auction of her possessions.

[quote] It would be hilarious if Scream Factory reissued Ordinary People.

Classic.

R53 My guess- They went in June on the day of the Puerto Rican Day Parade. It CAN get quite hot in NYC in June. They went to a regular performance, and over the years he conflated it with the opening night.

I think Bacall's Tonys were more because of gratitude for her bringing her star power to Broadway than because of her singing and dancing and acting talents. It had long been recognized that Broadway work (even starring work) was never very lucrative, and the bigger Hollywood stars did not do as much Broadway work in the Seventies as they had in the Sixties and Fifties and earlier. But Bacall kept doing it (in part because she wanted increased visibility though good roles for her in film were rare, and she was not as financially hard-up as a lot of other actors and so did not have to do television), and because she was one of the youngest figures to have been an adult star in the 40s during the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Plus she was for all of her adult life a link for people back to Bogart.

In "The Fan," as in "Applause" and "Woman of the Year," she was basically playing the same role of "Herself" she played in those High Point commercials--a finicky, bossy, conflicted middle-aged broad who happened to be a glamorous star.

Bacall was really hated by the time she did WOY and her performance was widely considered a joke. If Linda Ronstadt hadn't snubbed the Tony Committee by not showing up for the nominations, she almost surely would have won. Even though it was a mediocre performance, it still would have been better than giving the award to Bacall.

Rex Reed really hated Bacall. She was upset that he "revealed" she lived at the Dakota on talk shows to which Reed noted that she herself revealed it in her autobiography. Bacall said that people who watch talk shows don't read to which Reed shot back, if that's true, why did she go on all those talk shows to plug her book that none of them were going to read.

Jeezus, Lee Roy. That story has been recounted a million times, but no one has ever taken that long to do it.

Frank Rich's review of WotY is a love letter to her. He mentions nothing about her being vocally challenged at all.

Why mention it when it's a given? No one thought she was Zinka Milanov.

Zinka was doing a bus & truck of Woman of the Year when she died in 1989.

Zinka was too busy subbing for Lily Tomlin.

[quote]It WAS meat cleaver!...I wonder where I got chain saw? lol

You must have had a brain tumor for breakfast

All you have to do is listen to Bacall on the cast album of WotY to discover what kind of singer she was. (Remember that this was the BEST take.)

And this was the parody of Bacall's singing in "WotY" from "Forbidden Broadway":

I'm one of the girls

Who sings like a boy

My voice is as low

As the tunes I destroy.

Fine. She didn't have Kate's pipes.....

Have either Applause or Woman of the Year ever been revived?

[quote]Lee Roy and Bacall were good friends, stemming from his playing her hairdresser in Applause. She often gave him rides home in her limo during the Broadway run. I know he purchased at least one item from the auction of her possessions.

If they were such good friends she would have left him something.

I think it’s a terrific movie! The supporting actors were outstanding, especially Maureen Stapleton. Bacall and James Garner were superb, and they had an amazing screen chemistry. I loved the bitchy dialogue, too. Bacall calls Garner’s girlfriend “Little Red Riding Hood.” I loved that beautiful Tamara de Lempicka style painting of Lauren Bacall in the 1940s in her character’s apartment. I wonder what happened to it.

Maybe Lee Roy bought it.

Rex Reed tribute to Betty when she kicked...

I will also miss my friend and neighbor, Lauren Bacall. To Bogie she was Baby, to her friends she was Betty, and I was lucky enough to be counted as one of them. No longer sultry and glamorous like the siren who lit up 1940s film noirs, she could be thorny and difficult, acting like a self-centered dowager when her limo blocked the basement entrance to the Dakota apartments in the dark days following the murder of fellow neighbor John Lennon, but everything changed the night I asked her to appear with me onstage at an event to raise money for charity. The clueless driver who arrived to pick us up greeted her with “Let me help you, Mrs. Reed.” I held my breath, fearing the beginning of World War III, but she laughed all night. Thereafter, when she was homebound with a broken hip and her acting career behind her, I walked her dog Sophie and made her a quart of pineapple sorbet. Every thank-you note was always signed, “Mrs. Reed.”

"I loved that beautiful Tamara de Lempicka style painting of Lauren Bacall in the 1940s in her character’s apartment. I wonder what happened to it."

R72, It was slashed by "The Fan" when he broke into Sally's apartment and killed her maid.

Yes, I know, R75. I was hoping there were a few out there to purchase. It’s probably stashed away in a Bacall queen’s condo.

R74 I remember a print interview with her. The interview was over breakfast at Hotel Bel Air. I recall her ordering her eggs in a very specific way. And her saying to the waiter something like "If they come out runny, I'll break your goddamned legs." YIKES! Can you imagine?

I think they should do a remake with a current living Broadway legend...

Dear Ms. LuPone,

I am your greatest fan because, unlike the others, I want nothing from you. The only thing that matters to me is your happiness. I have posters, Playbills, and a closet jamb packed with photographs covering every stage of your magnificent career (along with my homosexuality.) I don't care what time they show on television; I'll gladly stay awake till any time in the morning to see reruns of Life Goes On, and watching over and over the two bootlegged versions of Rainbow High on YouTube.

I bought a brand new lucite frame for my picture of you singing for President Bush (the better, less religious one) on In Performance at the White House. I despise those pathetic people who try to take pictures during your performances. You must be able to continue with the show once they're thrown out. I know about Kevin Klein, but I adore you much more than he did.

You are the greatest start of all.

Your friend,

THE FAN (2019)

Ok, I'm now watching it. In the opening scene, they show a bunch of pictures of Bacall before she shows up on-screen. Sally Ross arrives home, and the director/cinematographer does this interesting thing. She turns off and on a series of lights to get from her front door to her bedroom to her bathroom. There are a few times in that 20 seconds where the lighting makes her look like she did in 1945. It was very cool.

Looks like it's gonna be fun. Goddamn Michael Biehn is hot as a fuck. Is he a homosexual? If so, I bet he got into some wild scenes. You can just tell.

It really is interesting. I know she'd done Applause ten years before, but life really seems to have imitated art. She did Woman of the Year AFTER The Fan, correct? The numbers from Woman of the Year aren't so different from the ones we see in The Fan. The music sounds similar, and the television-style choreography is too.

Arlene Phillips choreographed The Fan. Aside from The Fan, her two biggest credits seem to be the 1982 version of Annie, and the Village People romp Can't Stop the Music. She still works, but in reality television, it seems.

Did I mention how hot Mike Biehn is? Goddamn, brah. Anyone know what he's packin'?

How cool is this? "The Fan" was playing right next to The Palace Theatre. 1981 was a banner year for 56-year-old Bacall.

It's not a great movie, but it's certainly entertaining. I'll buy the Blu-Ray just to see it again and looking all cleaned up. Michael Biehn was so hot!

I think Bacall got away with a lot during her stage shows based on sheer star quality and presence alone. It can cover up a lot of flaws. I never thought she was even a terribly good actress, let alone a good singer or dancer, but she had star quality in spades. Is it weird to say that her best performance is probably in The Mirror Has Two Faces? I found her terrific in that.

R81, From the 1950s, she was very good in "How to Marry a Millionaire", "Woman's World" and "Designing Woman".

Mo Stapleton IS quite excellent as Betty's Thelma Ritter (Birdie from All About Eve.)

Bacall got her comeuppance when she went on vacation and wanted musical superstar Dina Merrill to replace her. The producers went for Raquel Welch who not only got great reviews but also pumped the box office. Welch turned One of the Boys into a showstopper. Bacall was furious with the entire situation.

I remember her curtain call. She had the entire stage cleared and then she came out alone for her call. She had a stagehand present her with roses and her reaction was so inauthentic that many critics called her on it, along with the egotism of her final bow.

Lauren destroying One of the Boys.

Applause was revived very, very briefly with Stephanie Powers and Ann Reinking choreographed it and reportedly took the failure very hard.

Debbie Reynolds was the last to play Tess Harding in the OBP. She became ill shortly after assuming the role and the producers closed the show.

Bacall is lip syncing to the record there. Having watched both, from these videos, anyway, I think Bacall is better that Raquel Welsh. I think Betty's masculine gestures are more believable, and therefore more fun.

[quote]I think Bacall is better that Raquel Welsh.

Ahhh yeah NO.

R88=Betty talking through Rex Reed's Ouija board.

It must have really been strange for Lauren Bacall. She must have finished filming the fan shortly before the Lennon assassination happened right outside her building.

Then, she does a Broadway show, while having to live in that space. She was living the life of her character in that movie, with the cloud of Mark David Chapman hanging over.

I just finished the movie. It really isn't very good. It doesn't quite rise to the level of camp often enough to make it worthy of that distinction either. That said, I was entertained, and I Broadway musical scenes were Springtime for Hitler bad.

Another Broadway show within a movie that was atrociously bad was the musical Tony starred in in Stayin' Alive, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever. What Broadway show EVER looked like these representations??

R90 Welch to me is more tuneful, yes. But Bacall does the number better all around, I think.

The book's gimmick is what made it an enjoyable read. Without it, it's your basic potboiler. Debbie was supposed to be quite good.....

Did they replace the 'meat cleaver' line with something else, or just removed it completely?

[quote]Welch to me is more tuneful, yes. But Bacall does the number better all around, I think.

Yeah but a beautiful glamour girl saying she is just one of the boys is funnier than a tall husky woman saying it. Plus Raquel danced her ass off. This is the one time I'll give Rocky her due.

As one who saw both Bacall and Welch on Broadway, I'll take Bacall.

Yes, Bacall put it all together better than Raquel. Raquel was just fine, but Bacall's star was bigger, even if her tits were not.

Woman of the Year.....a Space Odyssey

Yeah, I never saw either of them live, and it's not really fair to go by videos, especially when one is pro shot and the other is bootleg. I'm sure Welch was lots of fun.

For r94:

[quote]At the 57:17 mark, the spoken line in all theatrical prints and previous video versions is "Dearest Bitch, See how accessible you are? How would you liked to be fucked with a meat cleaver?" The 2002 DVD release from Paramount Home Entertainment replaces that line with "Dearest Bitch, I've exhausted myself on thinking of ways to kill you." No reasons were given for this alteration. The rest of the film, including the gore, is intact. The VHS version features the original line.

"The Fan" was originally to be directed by noted British director Waris Hussein, but he had issues with the production and walked away.

It's weird that she winds up with her ex-husband after flirting with the police detective. It smacks of rewrites/reshoots. Also, the younger guy she was seeing gets slashed, and it seems to not bother Sally. She's unfazed by that one.

Is this the film where in rehearsal she blows up at the lighting guy who can't get her spotlight right, saying to the director, "Is he learning on the job?!"

Yup.

It's not as funny, though, as Joan Crawford firing a dancer for tripping over her posed leg in "Torch Song" (which carol Burnett so memorably parodied).

[quote][R2], she wasn't that smart. You're giving the widow Bogart too much credit.

No, she really wasn't smart, what she was, was shrewd.

By the way, the delightfully gayer-than-gay choreographer Tony Charmoli is still alive at NINETY-SEVEN!

I saw Bacall in WotY twice, once pre-Broadway in Boston where the rickety star vehicle of a show had TWO ADDITIONAL Bacall ballads (both in Act II?), and some Vietnamese orphan children in a subplot I'm not sure made it to Broadway. The two ballads were certainly cut.

Though not an especially pretty singer Bacall had decent pitch, a big sound, and a legitimate musicality to whatever notes she did produce. Add to that star wattage to spare, and you had a hit that ran for two plus years.

The second time I saw it nine months later at the Palace Theater, a fatter Bacall was walking through it, having been doing eight shows a week for months, and somewhat exhausted by the effort. She was still pretty good, but by then clearly pacing herself for the long haul.

"I Wanted Hearts not Diamonds" was from "Never Say Never" the second smash musical in "The Fan".

Ooh Miss Biehn just accused Maureen Stapelton of having lesbonic feelings toward Sally Ross. In a letter of course.

I love the record store. There's the KISS solo album posters on the wall even though it's 1981 and the lps came out in 1978.

Must be a used record store.

The letters escalate pretty quickly. Biehn goes from being mainly pissy about the secretary than suddenly tells Sally that 'we will be lovers very soon, my darling...'

[quote] I love the record store. There's the KISS solo album posters on the wall even though it's 1981 and the lps came out in 1978. Must be a used record store.

I would think the sort of people who saw this back then would not have noticed.

Pearls before swine

Griffin Dunne just popped up as a production assistant that takes a letter from Biehn and gives it to Stapelton.

The suspense is killing me.

HOLY SHIT!!!!

S P O I L E R

the Maureen Stapelton attack scene is very effective. Very Brian de Palma Dressed to Kill. Wasn't expecting that.

We'll never know exactly why it was left out of the initial DVD release, but "fuck you with a meat cleaver" IS a jarring line to hear. Even today.

We know from the People Magazine article that Bacall was annoyed over the amount of gore in the film. Maybe, for pay cable (I remember it being in HEAVY rotation on HBO) to appease her, it was removed.

The most hilarious scene is at the end . . . Bacall is standing there with a knife to her throat about to be murdered by some maniac and she suddenly begins delivering a diatribe against terrorism as calmly as she would be making a restaurant reservation.

Were there any deleted scenes? I wonder if they will be on the Scream Factory reissue.

Obviously the gore was to compete with the slasher flicks in light of Friday the 13th and Halloween.

I saw Sally in "The Show Must Go On!" and she was fantabulous. My fave song was, "Whaddya Gonna Do?": "Whaddya gonna do? It's curtains for me and you/The affair was divine- we've run out of time/But I'll give you a rave review".

In this interview at 40:45, Bacall enthusiastically says "I loved 'The Fan' . . .".

She SHOULD have loved it. It was a great later career role for her and she acquitted herself just fin. Even though a bit campy, I think it's an enjoyable melodrama with fine work by all involved!

*just fine, I meant.

Dana Delaney has a small role as a co-worker in the record store.

(and btw don't you miss record stores?)

It's like two different movies. Standard made for TV type thriller, and slasher. James Garner is basically window dressing.

Where are people watching this?

I got it on Amazon Prime

I’m convinced that she lost the Best Supporting Actress Oscar because she was so bitchy and nasty to people in the industry.

R123, Can the same be said about Glenn Close's upset loss this year?

No, G's losing is simply a long-standing tradition that must be honored

I love the OP's photo.

When did people stop wearing tuxedos to Broadway shows? (Or is that just for a Broadway premiere? Do they still wear tuxes for those?)

[quote]James Garner is basically window dressing.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Bacall appears on several episodes of The Rockford Files with Garner, and they actually have quite a nice chemistry. He did sort of have a Bogart thing going on.

And they were in Altman's "Health" together the previous year.

She could be a cunt, certainly. She could be charming and kind, but with a theatric quality. She was New York tough. She was more a personality than a talent. I actually really liked Bacall. I loved her sultry, mid Atlantic accent especially as she aged. Has anyone seen the miniseries Too Rich where she plays Doris Duke? She was great in it. Somehow I don't think she was nasty just because she could be, she was scared of something. Being forgotten and irrelevant perhaps?

[quote] Somehow I don't think she was nasty just because she could be, she was scared of something.

Go talk to anyone who worked in show business about their experiences with Miss Bacall and then get back to us.

I remember her having a problem with Danny Aiello during the filming of "Ready to Wear".

r131, nasty cause she was insecure and jealous of people.

She tried to present herself as a vulnerable sensitive person on her Private Screening interview with Mr. Kinda/Sorta Robert Osborne.

Hairdresser talking about how mean Betty was.

That reputation followed her to the grave. Was she just naturally nasty or just unhappy in life? How hard is it to just be decent to people? Always heard Peck was a lovely guy.

Maybe a little of both, R136.

I think in life, we all have hard times. All of us. We can either let it make *us* hard (and mean and nasty and suspicious, etc) or not. For some of us, maybe it's easier to choose the latter than it is for others.

Debbie was FABULOUS in woman of the year. The audience adored her. And she could sing

Bacall was a gorgeous teenager and because of that, a Hollywood star at the age of 18. A few years later, she married Bogart. By the time she was 21, she had status and wealth and, via her marriage to Bogart, was certified Hollywood royalty. In those days, you can bet your ass that no one ever told her "No." She could dine out on that for the rest of her life. And you can't.

Along the way, she built some genuine performing skills. It's not easy sell a song when you can't sing, but she could do it. Still, she was never as big and successful and privileged as she was when she was 21. Add to that the swilling of a herculean amount of booze and you've got a bitter old woman who retained a bit of clout and looked down on everyone. If you opened the door for her, she would tell you that she could open her own damned door. If you failed to open the door, she would call you an uncultured pig. Either way, no matter what you did, she was going to cut you down. Count on it.

I worked in the business offices of Broadway for a number of years and it was always this way with her, show after show after event after personal appearance. The mountain of stories of nasty encounters with her is miles high. When she was doing "Woman of the Year," even Liz Smith printed a blind item asking which Hollywood star currently headling a Broadway musical had earned the nickname "Bob," an acronym for Bitch of Broadway? (Maybe it was Beast.)

Mean and unreasonable right to your face was often the starting point. She would also think nothing of costing a production thousands and thousands of dollars on unreasonabe and unnecessary demands. Every thing was part of showing you who was Bogie's baby, who was the boss.

R139, I would question swilling a herculean amount of booze.

I do not believe she was ever a heavy drinker. Bogart and Robards were, but not Bacall.

[quote] Mean and unreasonable right to your face was often the starting point. She would also think nothing of costing a production thousands and thousands of dollars on unreasonabe and unnecessary demands. Every thing was part of showing you who was Bogie's baby, who was the boss.

She's the only person I've ever enjoyed watching lose an Oscar she fully expected to win.

[quote]The novel is so much better. First, because it's an epistolary novel as mentioned above. Second, because it's much more somber with a much, much darker ending than the movie.

How does the book end?

Sally Ross is murdered by the stalker at the end of the book.

R141, What about Eddie Murphy?

Many years ago, I worked in reservations for an airline. The female reservation agents always and rightly complained about the sexual harassment callers, who always hung up when they got a male agent like myself. However, there was one caller we loved getting -- a guy who called and made a reservation for a New York to LA flight claiming to be Lauren Bacall, and he would go on and on about what he was planning to wear to the airport so that we could readily identify Miss Bacall, then he would call back a few minutes later and say that he'd changed his mind about what he was going to wear, then he'd call back again and change his outfit again, etc., etc. It was hilarious and a nice respite from the nasty callers who treated us like shit.

Since someone mentioned it, can anyone explain why the opening number of death becomes her is terrible? It’s so bad that audience members start walking out...but 1) Streep can sing 2) all of the technical stuff (lights/sound) goes ok 3) the choreography is done correctly (no left shark moments or screw ups). 4) It’s not a great song but not terrible to listen to....so why is it viewed by the audience as an abomination

r146, I suspect it's the extravagant narcissism of the song...and when it shifts to disco, it takes it into camp stratosphere.

R146, I've often wondered that, too. I thought it looked like a campy hoot, but compared to some of the shit that's actually been on Broadway in the 25+ years since that film came out, it looks like a masterpiece.

1) It's a bad song 2) doesn't matter because it's a bad song 3) It's bad choreography 2) doesn't matter because it's bad choreography 4) It's a bad song. MOST of all.....It's a musical version of Sweet Bird of Youth called Songbird!

If y'all think Michael Biehn is hot in THE FAN, have you seen him in THE TERMINATOR? He is BEYOND hot in that. Completely naked at the beginning (not full-frontal) and shirtless in at least once scene after that, and his body is ripped to shreds. He also looks amazing in ALIENS, though I don't remember that one as well.

The late 70s - early 80's had some slick, sleazy thrillers: Cruising; Windows; Dressed To Kill; The Eyes of Laura Mars; Curtains; Eyes of A Stranger; Videodrome...

They really don't make them anymore.

You're supposed to think it's a terrible musical and that the song and Madeline's performance are impossibly cheesy. Plus they've added a gratuitous disco bridge to it, even though that is completely inappropriate for the setting of "Sweet Bird of Youth" and for the character of the Princess Kosmopolis/Alexandra del Lago.

But you're also supposed to think madeline Ashton is talented and can sing well (which is true) and that she has a nice enough body that Ernest would be smitten with her (which is also true).

The funny thing about that song is that it's becomes Streep signature number--they play it quite often when she's being honored (which is pretty much all the time), and those cheerful opening bars of the main melody played as she walks to take the stage are always fun. The song also seems so fitting for Streep since she is honored so often as being beyond fabulous (which is the song is all about) and because the lyrics celebrate Alexandra del Lago's versatility (which is of course what Streep is all about--her perfume on "The Simpsons" is called "Versatility, by Meryl Streep"). Plus, it's ironic, which is also very fitting for Streep because she at least seems as if she has a great sense of humor about herself and realizes how overblown the praise for her can be (which is one reason why the public likes her so much).

Don't forget anal rapists, r151!

^ "He tried to kill me with his cock!"

Keep in mind that the most famous part of "Sweet Bird of Youth" is when the gigolo Chance Wayne forces the aging film star Alexandra del Lago to look in the mirror in hopes of forcing her to realize she's past her prime:

CHANCE: "Look." [He turns her forcibly to the mirror.] "Look in that mirror! What do you see in that mirror?"

ALEXANDRA: "I see--Alexandra del Lago, artist and star!"

This is how that famous moment is turned into the number for "Songbird!":

ALEXANDRA: [in front of mirror.] "What do I see? That's the question I'm most afraid of

One that asks me what I'm really made of

What do I see? Much more then a reflection

A romance with sheer perfection...

I see me! I see me!

Actress, woman, star, and lover,

Sister, sweetheart, slave, and mother!

I see me... and I like what I see!

Virgin, temptress, dream of others!

Yes, it's me... yes, it's me!"

MALE CHORUS: "We see you!"

ALEXANDRA: "You mean me?"

MALE CHORUS: "Idol, goddess, shameless hussy!

Diva, princess, lewd and lusty!

Aaah, aaah..."

ALEXANDRA: "That's not me,

Can't be me!"

MALE CHORUS: "Angel, devil..."

ALEXANDRA: "You can trust me,

Mon ami!

I see..."

MALE CHORUS: "Ooh, ooh..."

ALEXANDRA: "Everywhere I look, baby, all I see is..."

MALE CHORUS: "A contradiction!"

ALEXANDRA: "Oh, come on!"

MALE CHORUS: "An inspiration..."

ALEXANDRA: "That's more like it!"

MALE CHORUS: "...To a generation!"

ALEXANDRA: "Now you're talkin'!"

MALE CHORUS: "That's you..."

ALEXANDRA: "...That's me!"

I haven’t seen this, but I recently watched “Applause” on YouTube. Bacall was decent in the dance numbers, very light on her feet.

^ I didn't realize the above clip had extra scenes inserted. Here's just the number....

^ Dolores made her entrance in Sherry! rolled in on a luggage cart. There was one of those round settees in Paper Mill's MAME. Ebersole almost fell off of it during It's Today.

Betty was a hoarder! Can't imagine the intolerant old bitch living with all this tacky shit everywhere! Just looking at it makes me feel claustrophobic. Nothing matches, no rhyme or reason. Looks like a Salvation Army bric a brac shop in a provincial backwater

Yeah, but there are some great framed mementos on that wall.

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I'm too lazy to look for a Designing Women thread.

Honey, all that ric a brac sold for a shitload of money.

"ric a brac"

Oh, dear.

Bacall as the object of desire in this film seems wrong to me because she looks and sounds so much like a man that she wouldn't seem to appeal to someone who is meant to be straight. Only a gay men would admire her for her androgyny and stardom but not want to fuck her, but maybe still would want to kill her if his compliments felt rejected. I expect Bacall to throw off her wig in the climax and say, "You don't need to kill me because I'm really a man". Stapleton looks like a man too so a rethinking of her as Bacall's partner would be a better dynamic.

r160, those framed Belle Epoque posters are almost certainly real and worth a lot of money.

It's not that her place was so cluttered so much as it was so outdated. My mother told me years ago that as you age you have to watch out for your place looking too dated. The problem is that as you get closer to death you look at your furniture and wallpaper and think, "Why replace it? I won't get a lifetime's use out of it," but then you live longer than you think and it looks awful and dated.

R25: Does anyone know the name of the singer/actor at 8:24? I think he was in ALL THAT JAZZ. Very cute.

[quote]The second time I saw it nine months later at the Palace Theater, a fatter Bacall was walking through it,

Oh Honey, she was walking through it from the first day of rehearsal. Never have a bunch of chorus boys worked so hard to conceal the leading lady has two left hooves.

Marilyn Cooper was adorable

I saw Marilyn Cooper play Tommy Tune's mother in a touring production of Bye Bye Birdie. She was really funny. That show was surprisingly good. Ann Reinking was Rosie. And the high school boys were all hot and butch.

I wish there was video of it on YouTube.

Not to sidetrack the thread, but...r170, I saw that tour of Bye Bye Birdie as well, in Orlando -- the night we went, Reinking was out sick and so was her understudy, so they brought in veteran actress (sadly, I can't recall her name) who had performed the role before and was now living in Cocoa Beach; they called her in the morning, rehearsed all afternoon and she went on that night and totally nailed it...the audience didn't know until the curtain call, when Tune explained what had happened and she got a standing ovation.

Yes, a lot of the clutter in Bacall's apartment would have been worth money but that doesn't detract from the mess of it all. Someone who lives in an environment like that can't have a clear and healthy mind.

The floor space doesn't look cluttered to me unlike the table and shelf surfaces. When I see all that stuff I always wonder who has to clean it.

[quote] Someone who lives in an environment like that can't have a clear and healthy mind.

Thanks for weighing in, Bettina and Max.

Did she decorate with her discount from Tuesday Morning?

She's not unmusical at r176, but she's hardly a great singer.

"JESUS!!!"

They should have set the "But Alive" number in a leather bar rather than just a standard gay pool bar--then she could have swung from a sling rather than that weird pool table light fixture.

The Saga of Lenny

Hahahahaha poor old biddy Lauren.

[quote]Did she decorate with her discount from Tuesday Morning?

She had a complete set of WINTAH TOOLIP TUMBLAHS, don't forget.

That "Applause" number was sensational. Old Betty danced her ass off! I was then and remain now truly impressed.

She was a much better dancer than singer.

The trouble with "Applause" was that it had no really first-rate numbers. It was also so much of its time, with the sstraight woman making the "daring" visit to the gay bar.

And all those guys would be dead in five years....

Maybe 10-15 years, as Applause opened in 1970. played a couple years, toured, and then this scene was shot while the show was in London, probably in 1973, or '74.

Hate to be a stickler for these things.....

Did she dance her ass off when she did Wonderful Town, r183?

Bacall may have been prickly, but having been in her apartment, I can assure you that it was quite warm and lovely. The layout was pretty much as pictured in the above photos, but while there was abundant art, there weren't quite so many tchotchkes on every surface. I imagine whoever took the photos staged the rooms as they saw fit. What you can't see from the photos is that behind the door to the right of the entryway was a closet full of bound scripts from all of her projects.

Did anyone else see her in the Harold Pinter-directed London production of Sweet Bird of Youth opposite Xanadu and The Warriors star Michael Beck?

She starred in The Visit in 1995 in Chichester, UK against her better judgment.

She hated the experience and the reviews were dismal.

Was she.....

R182 I like those tumblers. What year, indeed what country or planet, is this commercial from? Where at Arby’s of all places you can buy solid looking, gold rimmed tasteful tumblers hawked by Lauren Bacall?

Why didn't she play Dolly?

Dolly is definitely a role she'd have the right singing range for. It's pretty much written for a man's range. I don't know if she was quite quirky or light enough for it. She always seemed a little serious.

Any DLers see her in her first Broadway foray, Goodbye Charlie?

It's so funny to think Betty and Debbie Reynolds played the same role.

Not as funny as Carol Channing and Barbra Streisand playing the same role.

I liked Barbra in Dolly. But really, she should do it NOW. She'd be perfect in her dotage.

I did not see Bette do it, although I fleeting desire to fly to New York for it. Just recently I saw a clip online, and - oh dear. I did not enjoy her singing.

I "had a" fleeting desire ^ but you knew that.

Should we continue to apologize for typos or bad dictation?

What about Katharine Hepburn and June Allyson playing the same role, r198?

Or Norma Shearer and June Allyson.

Now, Debbie Reynolds would have been a great Dolly. Did she ever do it? Even out in stock somewhere? I remember her being attached to a production of Gypsy once that fell through and she'd have made an interesting Rose. I could see her giving Rose a disturbing and unwavering optimism that could potentially make her scarier than the loud, brash battle ax she's usually played as.

I saw Dolly on Broadway with Ginger Rogers.

She was great.

Phyllis Diller's Dolly was said to be excellent.

In the book he wrote about his father, Stephen Bogart took a few swipes at his mother that displeased her. Though far from a "Mommie Dearest" book, it's an honest appraisal of both his parents.

R206 - Such as ??? Tell, tell, please.

I did read where when Stephen was born, Bogart was jealous of the attention that the baby received instead of him.

Another one of these children of Hollywood folk who was named after a character in one of their parents' movies. In this case "To Have and Have Not"; even though Bogart's character was Harry Morgan, Bacall's character called him "Steve".

Their daughter Leslie was supposedly named for Leslie Howard.

My favorite Dolly was Ann Miller. Of course, she did not budge an inch from the Ann Miller we all know and love, but that works for Dolly. It worked beautifully.

And who else could tear off her skirt and tap dance Horace out of her life while singing, "So Long, Dearie!" I would not have missed it for the world.

"I'm going to learn to dance and drink and smoke a cigarette. I'm going as far from L.B. Mayer as a girl can get."

R207, The usual children of celebrities gripes . . . Distant, hardly ever there, frequently away working, Bacall's disapproval of his girlfriends and wives(2 of his 3). To this day, Stephen still resents that Bacall went on location with Bogart for four months in the Belgian Congo for the filming of "The African Queen", even though he was two at the time and he was left in the care of his grandmother. He was only 8 when Bogart died, so his memories of him are sketchy. He inherited millions when Bacall died.

I hadn't thought of that one, r202! Yep, Junie essayed the same roles as Norma and Kate! I couldn't find any Phyllis in Dolly, but I ran across this.....

R211, June also played the same roles as Carole Lombard and Claudette Colbert in remakes of "My Man Godfrey" with David Niven and "It Happened One Night" with Jack Lemmon.

Phyllis as Dolly.

It boggles what remains of my mind, r212!

The first actress to succeed Carol Channing as Dolly was Ginger Rogers who came on in August 1965.

R215, Here they are as Mystery Guests on WML? at 3:15.

Such grace!

Ginger Rogers and Carol Channing appeared in a movie together in 1956 called "The First Traveling Saleslady".

R218, And the love interest was a young Clint Eastwood.

Look at the scenes with Channing and Eastwood from "The First Traveling Saleslady".

What a hoot!

The joke record Phyllis did that included The Rolling Stones "Satisfaction" also contained a very lovely version of "Before the Parade Passes By", which Diller also performed on many variety shows. The story goes that Merrick wanted George Burns and Jack Benny in drag as Dolly. Before it went to Diller, they were considering Debbie Reynolds.

Can you gays try to focus for once??

Well pardon US, Miss hoity-toity Perske!

[quote]Now, Debbie Reynolds would have been a great Dolly.

"The Unsinkable Molly Brown" was Debbie Reynolds's "Dolly."

She had a small role in "Harper", but she was very good.

More like her Annie Get Your Gun, r225. And Calamity Jane was Doris' Annie Get Your Gun.

Wait, is this the movie where she glares haughtily a lot and acts imperious?

R229, You just described Bacall's entire filmography.

From the book written by Sinatra's butler regarding their breakup:

"I felt awful for Betty, who had enjoyed such a classic romance with Bogie. Perhaps only one of these in a lifetime was all anyone could expect. By the same token, Mr. S could only have one grand passion in his life, and that was Ava. Betty, who had gotten spoiled by Bogie, simply wanted more than Frank could give her. Mr. S desperately tried to copy Bogart in every way, but when it came to loving Betty, the mold had been broken. Not only did Mr. S now turn against Betty Bacall, he turned on her. He called her “the Jew bitch.” He complained to his buddies how spoiled she was, how cold, how badly she kissed, and, worst of all among his friends, that she couldn’t—or wouldn’t, give a blow job. “All she does is whistle,” Mr. S said, nastily referring to Bacall’s famous suggestive line in her first film, To Have and Have Not. Cocksucking, in this group, was considered the highest feminine art. To fail here was to be less than a woman. "

I never in all my life.

"I wonder where I got chain saw? lol"

From Heathers - "Fuck me gently with a chainsaw"

Thank you, R231, for reminding me what a genius piece of trash Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra, by Sinatra's manservant George Jacobs, truly is. It's heavenly!

The Fan is a good 'bad movie'. Trashy but enjoyably so.

In her Private Screenings interview Bacall said she wouldn't marry Sinatra because she knew him to be a womanizer, something that Bogie was not. at least not when he was married to her.

SHE wouldn't marry SINATRA? That's rewriting history.

and she doesn't even mention Jason Robards.

Yes, Bogie was married 4 times in 19 years and after each divorce immediately married the next wife, he wasn't a womanizer at all Betty...

Bogart carried on an affair with his "hairdresser" during his marriage to Bacall. Stephen Bogart basically acknowledges their affair in his book.

What's that old saying...

[quote] If he cheats with you, he will cheat on you.

Any truth to the rumor that Bacall and Garner had a fling around this time? He was separated from his wife.

I read that Anne Bancroft wanted the part of Sally. I can see her going from Great Lady to Bronx Bitch.

Anne Bancroft was also the first choice for "Mommie Dearest".

My question is why did everyone want to completely miscast Anne Bancroft? She was a Bronx fishwife and nothing more, especially once the 1980s hit.

Bone structure, r245.....

If you want watch some of the hammiest, scene chewingist over the top performances by an actress, check out Annie in Fatso, Torch Song Trilogy, Garbo Talks, Agnes of God... even in Night, Mother, where she actually does some lovely work you can see how hard she's trying not to just Ms. Pac Man through the entire set. She's not always entirely successful.

The woman the female Rod Steiger

pardon me, the woman *was" the female Rod Steiger

LOVE Annie!

Frank Langella is not kind to Anne Bancroft in his book.

Is Bacall mentioned in Langella's book? he asks trying to swerve the chat back to the original.

Ann Bancroft is brilliant in "Fatso" which she also wrote and directed!

I checked the Langella book and no Bacall.

Debbie Reynolds was awful. She was a horrible Molly Brown, playing her with all the subtlety of a Sherman Tank rolling down a South Philly side street. Her screen persona was so fucking grating, worse than June Allyson even.

I think she was subtlety itself.

Molly Brown isn't a subtle role

Molly Brown isn't a subtle role

Debbie was much better as wealthy Molly, as opposed to poor Molly.